Thom Browne

With stints at Armani and Club Monaco behind him, designer Thom Browne recently struck out on his own in the fashion world.

Appeal

Women love smart men, especially men with a fashion sense. Accordingly, Thom Browne should have hot ladies everywhere swooning over him. However, his modest approach to his work and accomplishments keep him humbled, another quality chicks dig. We'll wait patiently to see which supermodel or Hollywood starlet will take the Thom Browne bait.

Success

Thom Browne has helped change the face of men's fashion, particularly the men's "casual" suit -- their '60s-style cuts coupled with thin, straight lines and shortened hems are Thom Browne's signature look. His work has clearly impressed the Council of Fashion Designers because in 2006, they named him the Menswear Designer of the Year.

Thom Browne Biography

Thom Browne was born in 1965 to two lawyer parents. He grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, participating in non-team sports and keeping to himself most of the time.

He earned an undergraduate degree in business from the University of Notre Dame. After college, Thom Browne moved to Los Angeles (a decision he calls rebellious) to try his hand at acting, and he ended up getting several jobs in commercials. However, he and his friend Johnson Hartig (with whom he later started his Libertine label) also enjoyed playing around with old vintage suits, cutting them down and wearing them around California.

In 1997, Thom Browne decided to move to The Big Apple, and his first job was working in a Giorgio Armani showroom as a salesman. He then tried his hand working for Club Monaco and, after several promotions within the company, he launched the Thom Browne label in 2001. He hired a modest staff of four people, opened a by-appointment-only storefront and introduced his first collection. He admits that many of his first sales were to friends he convinced to buy his suits, but it wasn't long before fashionites everywhere were donning his stylish threads.

thom browne collaborates with brooks brothers

In '07, Thom Browne introduced his first women's line to the world. Then, that fall, he launched a capsule collection for men, women and accessories that was sold in partnership with Brooks Brothers (the line was called Black Fleece). This allowed him to expand and gave the general public more access to Thom Browne designs. The team was honored with the title of best collaboration of the year by DNR, a men's fashion industry magazine.

He also came out with a jewelry line for Harry Winston around the same time.